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1 Wilkes, Maurice Vincent
SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology[br]b. 26 June 1913 Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England[br]English physicist who was jointly responsible for the construction of the EDS AC computer.[br]Educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Stourbridge, where he began to make radio sets and read Wireless World, Wilkes went to St John's College, Cambridge, in 1931, graduating as a Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos in 1934. He then carried out research at the Cavendish Laboratory, becoming a demonstrator in 1937. During the Second World War he worked on radar, differential analysers and operational research at the Bawdsey Research Station and other air-defence establishments. In 1945 he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer and as Acting Director of the Mathematical (later Computer) Laboratory, serving as Director from 1946 to 1970.During the late 1940s, following visits to the USA for computer courses and to see the ENIAC computer, with the collaboration of colleagues he constructed the Cambridge University digital computer EDSAC (for Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer), using ultrasonic delay lines for data storage. In the mid-1950s a second machine, EDSAC2, was constructed using a magnetic-core memory. In 1965 he became Professor of Computer Technology. After retirement he worked for the Digital Electronic Corporation (DEC) from 1981 to 1986, serving also as Adjunct Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1981 to 1985. In 1990 he became a research strategy consultant to the Olivetti Research Directorate.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1956. First President, British Computer Society 1957–60. Honorary DSc Munich 1978, Bath 1987. Honorary DTech Linkoping 1975. FEng 1976. Institution of Electrical Engineers Faraday Medal 1981.Bibliography1948, "The design of a practical high-speed computing machine", Proceedings of the Royal Society A195:274 (describes EDSAC).1949, Oscillation of the Earth's Atmosphere.1951, Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer, New York: Addison-Wesley.1956, Automatic Digital Computers, London: Methuen. 1966, A Short Introduction to Numerical Analysis.1968, Time-Sharing Computer Systems: McDonald \& Jane's.1979, The Cambridge CAP Computer and its Operating System: H.Holland.1985, Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press (autobiography).Further ReadingB.Randell (ed.), 1973, The Origins of Digital Computers, Berlin: Springer-Verlag.KFBiographical history of technology > Wilkes, Maurice Vincent
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2 Strachey, Christopher
SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology[br]b. 16 November 1916 Englandd. 18 May 1975 Oxford, England[br]English physicist and computer engineer who proposed time-sharing as a more efficient means of using a mainframe computer.[br]After education at Gresham's School, London, Strachey went to King's College, Cambridge, where he completed an MA. In 1937 he took up a post as a physicist at the Standard Telephone and Cable Company, then during the Second World War he was involved in radar research. In 1944 he became an assistant master at St Edmunds School, Canterbury, moving to Harrow School in 1948. Another change of career in 1951 saw him working as a Technical Officer with the National Research and Development Corporation, where he was involved in computer software and hardware design. From 1958 until 1962 he was an independent consultant in computer design, and during this time (1959) he realized that as mainframe computers were by then much faster than their human operators, their efficiency could be significantly increased by "time-sharing" the tasks of several operators in rapid succession. Strachey made many contributions to computer technology, being variously involved in the design of the Manchester University MkI, Elliot and Ferranti Pegasus computers. In 1962 he joined Cambridge University Mathematics Laboratory as a senior research fellow at Churchill College and helped to develop the programming language CPL. After a brief period as Visiting Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he returned to the UK in 1966 as Reader in Computation and Fellow of Wolfeon College, Oxford, to establish a programming research group. He remained there until his death.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsDistinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society 1972.Bibliography1961, with M.R.Wilkes, "Some proposals for improving the efficiency of Algol 60", Communications of the ACM 4:488.1966, "Systems analysis and programming", Scientific American 25:112. 1976, with R.E.Milne, A Theory of Programming Language Semantics.Further ReadingJ.Alton, 1980, Catalogue of the Papers of C. Strachey 1916–1975.M.Campbell-Kelly, 1985, "Christopher Strachey 1916–1975. A biographical note", Annals of the History of Computing 7:19.M.R.Williams, 1985, A History of Computing Technology, London: Prentice-Hall.KF -
3 Electronics and information technology
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Byron, Ada AugustaNapier, JohnRiche, Gaspard-Clair-François-MarieSchickhard, WilhelmBiographical history of technology > Electronics and information technology
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4 Forrester, Jay Wright
SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology[br]b. 14 July 1918 Anselmo, Nebraska, USA[br]American electrical engineer and management expert who invented the magnetic-core random access memory used in most early digital computers.[br]Born on a cattle ranch, Forrester obtained a BSc in electrical engineering at the University of Nebraska in 1939 and his MSc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remained to teach and carry out research. Becoming interested in computing, he established the Digital Computer Laboratory at MIT in 1945 and became involved in the construction of Whirlwind I, an early general-purpose computer completed in March 1951 and used for flight-simulation by the US Army Air Force. Finding the linear memories then available for storing data a major limiting factor in the speed at which computers were able to operate, he developed a three-dimensional store based on the binary switching of the state of small magnetic cores that could be addressed and switched by a matrix of wires carrying pulses of current. The machine used parallel synchronous fixed-point computing, with fifteen binary digits and a plus sign, i.e. 16 bits in all, and contained 5,000 vacuum tubes, eleven semiconductors and a 2 MHz clock for the arithmetic logic unit. It occupied a two-storey building and consumed 150kW of electricity. From his experience with the development and use of computers, he came to realize their great potential for the simulation and modelling of real situations and hence for the solution of a variety of management problems, using data communications and the technique now known as interactive graphics. His later career was therefore in this field, first at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts (1951) and subsequently (from 1956) as Professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsNational Academy of Engineering 1967. George Washington University Inventor of the Year 1968. Danish Academy of Science Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal 1969. Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society Award for Outstanding Accomplishments 1972. Computer Society Pioneer Award 1972. Institution of Electrical Engineers Medal of Honour 1972. National Inventors Hall of Fame 1979. Magnetics Society Information Storage Award 1988. Honorary DEng Nebraska 1954, Newark College of Engineering 1971, Notre Dame University 1974. Honorary DSc Boston 1969, Union College 1973. Honorary DPolSci Mannheim University, Germany. Honorary DHumLett, State University of New York 1988.Bibliography1951, "Data storage in three dimensions using magnetic cores", Journal of Applied Physics 20: 44 (his first description of the core store).Publications on management include: 1961, Industrial Dynamics, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press; 1968, Principles of Systems, 1971, Urban Dynamics, 1980, with A.A.Legasto \& J.M.Lyneis, System Dynamics, North Holland. 1975, Collected Papers, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT.Further ReadingK.C.Redmond \& T.M.Smith, Project Whirlwind, the History of a Pioneer Computer (provides details of the Whirlwind computer).H.H.Goldstine, 1993, The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann, Princeton University Press (for more general background to the development of computers).Serrell et al., 1962, "Evolution of computing machines", Proceedings of the Institute ofRadio Engineers 1,047.M.R.Williams, 1975, History of Computing Technology, London: Prentice-Hall.See also: Burks, Arthur Walter; Goldstine, Herman H.; Wilkes, Maurice Vincent; Williams, Sir Frederic CallandKF
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Wilkes , Maurice Vincent — (1913–) British computer scientist Wilkes was born at Dudley in Worcestershire, and educated at Cambridge University. After working on operational research during World War II, he returned to Cambridge where he was appointed professor of… … Scientists
Maurice Vincent Wilkes — Sir Maurice Vincent Wilkes, né à Dudley (Staffordshire) le 26 juin 1913 et mort à Cambridge, le 29 novembre 2010[1] à l âge de 97 ans, est un professeur, chercheur, pionnier britannique de l … Wikipédia en Français
Maurice Wilkes — Maurice Vincent Wilkes Maurice Vincent Wilkes Sir Maurice Vincent Wilkes (né le 26 juin 1913) est un chercheur en informatique britannique. Sommaire 1 Biographie … Wikipédia en Français
Maurice Wilkes — Nombre Maurice Vincent Wilkes … Wikipedia Español
Maurice Wilkes — Maurice V. Wilkes Maurice Vincent Wilkes (* 26. Juni 1913 in Dudley, Großbritannien) ist ein britischer Informatiker. Leben und Werk Nach dem Studium (1931 bis 1934) und der Promotion (1936, über die Ausbreitung von … Deutsch Wikipedia
Maurice Wilkes — Not to be confused with Maurice Wilkins, Maurice Wilks, or Maurice Canning Wilks. Maurice Wilkes Born 26 June 1913(1913 0 … Wikipedia
Maurice — /mawr is, mor , maw rees /; for 3 also Fr. /maw rddees /, n. 1. German, Moritz. 1521 53, German general: elector of Saxony 1547 53. 2. of Nassau, 1567 1625, Dutch statesman. 3. a male given name. * * * (as used in expressions) Barrès Auguste… … Universalium
Vincent — /vin seuhnt/, n. 1. Saint, died A.D. 304, Spanish martyr: patron saint of winegrowers. 2. a male given name: from a Latin word meaning conquering. * * * (as used in expressions) Atanasoff John Vincent Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Benét Stephen… … Universalium
Wilkes — /wilks/, n. 1. Charles, 1798 1877, U.S. rear admiral and explorer. 2. John, 1727 97, English political leader and journalist. * * * (as used in expressions) Booth John Wilkes Wilkes John Wilkes Maurice Vincent * * * … Universalium
Maurice V. Wilkes — Sir Maurice Vincent Wilkes (* 26. Juni 1913 in Dudley; † 29. November 2010 in Cambridge[1]) war ein britischer Informatiker. 1967 erhielt er den Turing Award, 1992 den Kyoto Preis … Deutsch Wikipedia
Wilkes (surname) — Wilkes is a surname, and may refer to:* Annie Wilkes, fictional character from Misery * Ashley Wilkes, fictional character from Gone with the Wind * Benjamin Wilkes, British entomological painter * Brent Wilkes, American defense contractor *… … Wikipedia
